Several cyclists, including riders due to start the Giro d’Italia on Friday, have fallen ill after a Belgian one-day race, with cow manure on the roads suspected as the cause.
Three riders from the Lotto-Intermarché team suffered from abdominal pain, diarrhoea, fever and vomiting, and were briefly taken to hospital, the team confirmed from Bulgaria, where the Giro begins on Friday. Arnaud De Lie, winner of the Famenne Ardenne Classic on Sunday and the team’s expected leader at the Giro, initially showed no symptoms before feeling nauseous during the flight to Bulgaria. “He’s not feeling well, but his participation in the Giro is not compromised at this stage,” the team said. Only five of Lotto’s eight riders attended the race presentation on Wednesday.
According to Belgian broadcaster Sporza, other teams such as Alpecin have also been affected. Lotto’s sporting director Maxime Bouet said: “Half the peloton is ill.” The team suggested riders may have been contaminated by cow manure on the Ardennes course, with wet roads causing excrement to be splashed onto riders. Although the exact cause has not been confirmed, campylobacter – a bacteria responsible for gastrointestinal infections – is suspected.
In a separate incident, local authorities in Brussels said vandals damaged a commemorative stone slab honouring Belgian cycling great Eddy Merckx. The monument, depicting the face of the five-time Tour de France winner, was found vandalised on Wednesday morning. “Who could want to attack an athlete, a symbol of our country? Nothing justifies such an act,” said Benoît Cerexhe, mayor of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre. CCTV footage will be analysed to identify the perpetrators, and the monument – inaugurated in 2019 when the Tour de France began in Brussels – will be repaired without delay.
